DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Receipt is acknowledged of the Request for Continued Examination (RCE) under 1.114, the Amendment and Response, all filed 12/31/25. Claims 1-9 are pending. Claims 8 and 9 were previously withdrawn. Claims 1-7 have been examined on the merits.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 12/31/25 has been entered.
Withdrawn Rejections
The 103(a) rejections of claims 1-7 over Sago JP 63129968 in view of Kanehiro et al. (JP 2002262815) and Hishiya et al. (US 2007/0128314) have been withdrawn due to the translation filed under oath.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the miso" in line 6. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim because there is no prior recitation of a "miso" in the body of the claim Claims 2-7 are dependent on claim 1, and so those dependent claims are indefinite for the same reasons.
Examiner’s Note
The 37 CFR 1.132 Declaration filed 12/31/25 is acknowledged.:
The Examiner acknowledges the declaration but notes that there is no information on/in the English translation that indicates that it is a translation of Sago. Applicant is asked to resubmit the translation so that it is clear on the translated document itself that the document is an English translation of Sago JP 63129968.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FELICIA C TURNER whose telephone number is (571)270-3733. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Thu 8:00-4:00 pm.
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/Felicia C Turner/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1793